Following the latest address to the nation by President Ramaphosa on Tuesday evening, the citizens of the Western Cape, and of Cape Town specifically, have become very anxious, speculating that our province and/our city will stay at Level 4 and not move to Level 3 at the end of this month, given an area-led Level dictate by the Government, based on a Corona Virus case count relative to the population of the area.
President Ramaphosa was due to meet Western Cape Premier Alan Winde today, but has had to go into self-isolation due to being in the company of a person who subsequently tested COVID-19 positive. It is not clear if the two politicians will meet via Zoom, but on the agenda of the meeting can only be one topic, the readiness of the Province to move to Level 3, and with that the screening and testing for Corona, the readiness of the province to deal with a greater number of Corona cases, the hygiene procedures to be demanded from businesses as they reopen in greater numbers, the hygiene procedures practised on public transport, and the fact that the province’s proactive screening and testing is a positive rather than a negative, given that the Western Cape has the highest number of recorded Corona infection cases.
Being in touch with his constituency, and aware of its anxiety, Premier Winde has issued a statement requesting the Government to move the Western Cape to Level 3 with the rest of the country by and preferably before the end of this month, and outlying the province’s ‘Hotspot plan’.
The Premier’s statement follows:
Premier Alan Winde calls for entire province to move to Alert Level 3 in conjunction with targeted hotspot plan
14 May 2020
The Western Cape Government will use the process of consultation announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa to make clear our position that the entire province must move down to level 3 as soon as possible, preferably before the end of May 2020.
With our health care system prepared, it is simply no longer possible to maintain Level 4 restrictions anywhere in the Western Cape or South Africa. The economic crisis caused by these restrictions has resulted in a life-threatening humanitarian disaster that will only worsen in the months ahead.
The Western Cape has adopted a data-led, evidence-based approach to our Covid-19 response, with targeted All of Government interventions in hotspots. These hotspots are not whole provinces or even districts. They are geographical areas where people live, down to street-level.
This is the plan that we presented to the National Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize on Saturday, and which had already been adopted by our cabinet.
This All of Government approach uses the combined impact of our respective governments and enforcement agencies, with the single-minded goal to slow the spread and protect vulnerable groups of people who are at high risk.
We welcome that this targeted hotspot plan has now also been adopted by National Government, as revealed by the President.
This focused effort of government, in partnership with the private sector and every person, will help us slow the spread and save lives, while still allowing more economic activity and protecting the livelihoods of especially our poor and vulnerable residents.
In conjunction with the determined enforcement of this hotspot plan, Alert Level 3 should be adopted for the entire Western Cape province.
Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein
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